The present invention relates to communication or telecommunication. More particularly, the present invention provides a technique, including a method and system, for monitoring and allocating bandwidth on a plurality of locations or nodes in a telecommunication network at, for example, a firewall access point and other positions. As merely an example, the present invention is implemented on a wide area network of computers or workstations such as the Internet. But it would be recognized that the present invention has a much broader range of applicability including local area networks, a combination of wide and local area networks, and the like.
Telecommunication techniques have been around for numerous years. In the early days, people such as the American Indians communicated to each other over long distances using xe2x80x9csmoke signals.xe2x80x9d Smoke signals were generally used to transfer visual information from one geographical location to be observed at another geographical location. Since smoke signals could only be seen over a limited range of geographical distances, they were soon replaced by a communication technique known as telegraph. Telegraph generally transferred information from one geographical location to another geographical location using electrical signals in the form of xe2x80x9cdotsxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cdashesxe2x80x9d over transmission lines. An example of commonly used electrical signals is Morse code. Telegraph has been, for the most part, replaced by telephone. The telephone was invented by Alexander Graham Bell in the 1800s to transmit and send voice information using electrical analog signals over a telephone line, or more commonly a single twisted pair copper line. Most industrialized countries today rely heavily upon telephone to facilitate communication between businesses and people, in general.
In the 1990s, another significant development in the telecommunication industry occurred. People began communicating to each other by way of computers, which are coupled to the telephone lines or telephone network. These computers or workstations coupled to each other can transmit many types of information from one geographical location to another geographical location. This information can be in the form of voice, video, and data, which have been commonly termed as xe2x80x9cmultimedia.xe2x80x9d Information transmitted over the Internet or Internet xe2x80x9ctrafficxe2x80x9d has increased dramatically in recent years. In fact, the increased traffic has caused congestion, which leads to problems in responsiveness and throughput. This congestion is similar to the congestion of automobiles on a freeway, such as those in Silicon Valley from the recent xe2x80x9cboomxe2x80x9d in high technology companies, including companies specializing in telecommunication. As a result, individual users, businesses, and others have been spending more time waiting for information, and less time on productive activities. For example, a typical user of the Internet may spend a great deal of time attempting to view selected sites, which are commonly referred to as xe2x80x9cWebsites,xe2x80x9d on the Internet. Additionally, information being sent from one site to another through electronic mail, which is termed xe2x80x9ce-mail,xe2x80x9d may not reach its destination in a timely or adequate manner. In effect, quality of service or Quality of Service (xe2x80x9cQoSxe2x80x9d) of the Internet has decreased to the point where some messages are being read at some time significantly beyond the time the messages were sent.
Quality of Service is often measured by responsiveness, including the amount of time spent waiting for images, texts, and other data to be transferred, and by throughput of data across the Internet, and the like. Other aspects may be application specific, for example, jitter, quality of playback, quality of data transferred across the Internet, and the like. Three main sources of data latency include: the lack of bandwidth at the user (or receiving) end, the general congestion of Internet, and the lack of bandwidth at the source (or sending) end.
A solution to decreasing data latency includes increasing the bandwidth of the user. This is typically accomplished by upgrading the network link, for example by upgrading a modem or network connection. For example, the network link may be upgraded to X2 modems, 56K modems, ADSL or DMT modems, ISDN service and modems, cable TV service and modems, and the like. Drawbacks to these solutions include that they typically require additional network service; they also require additional hardware and/or software, and further they require both the sender and receiver to both agree on using the same hardware and/or software. Although one user may have a much faster line or faster modem, another user may still rely on the same 1,200 kbaud modem. So, the speed at which information moves from one location to another location is often determined by the slowest information which is being transferred over the network. Accordingly, users of faster technology are basically going nowhere, or xe2x80x9crunningxe2x80x9d nowhere fast, as is commonly stated in the network industry.
From the above, it is seen that a technique for improving the use of a wide area network is highly desirable.
The present invention relates to a technique, including a method and system, for providing more quality to telecommunication services. More particularly, the present invention relates to quality of service management using a novel traffic monitoring technique, which is distributed over a network. The present monitoring technique is predominantly software based, but is not limited to such software in some embodiments. The present invention also provides a management tool for allocating bandwidth, as well as other features.
In a specific embodiment, the present invention provides a system with a novel graphical user interface for monitoring a flow of information coupled to a network of computers. The flow of information can come from a variety of location or nodes such as a firewall, a server, a wide area network, a local area network, a client, and other information sources. The user interface is provided on a display. The display has at least a first portion and a second portion, where the first portion displays a graphical chart representing the flow of information, which comes from one of many locations on the network. The second portion displays text information describing aspects of the flow of information. The combination of the first portion and the second portion describes the information being profiled. The display also has prompts in graphical or text form or outputs the source of the flow of information, where the source can be one of a plurality of nodes such as a server, a firewall, a wide area network, a local area network, a client, and other information sources. The present invention can be distributed over a network by way of one or more agents.
In an alternative specific embodiment, the present invention provides a novel computer network system having a real-time bandwidth profiling tool. The real-time bandwidth profiling tool has a graphical user interface on a monitor or display. The graphical user interface includes at least a first portion and a second portion. The first portion displays a graphical chart representing the flow of information from at least one information source. The second portion displays text information describing the flow of information. The combination of the first portion and the second portion describes the information being profiled. Additionally, the graphical user interface has a portion that outputs a graphical representation including text or illustration of the source itself. The flow of information can be from a variety of sources, such as those described above as well as others, to provide a distributed profiling tool.
In still an alternative embodiment, the present invention provides a novel bandwidth profiling tool. The present bandwidth profiling tool includes a variety of computer codes to form computer software or a computer program, which is stored in computer memory. The program includes a first code that is directed to measuring a data rate for a flow of information from an incoming source, which is coupled to a node from one of a plurality of sources such as a network of computers, for example. The program also has a second code that is directed to categorizing the data rate from the flow of information based upon at least one of a plurality of traffic classes and a third code that is directed to outputting a visual representation of the data rate in graphical form on a display. A fourth code is used to direct the outputting of a text representation of the one of the plurality of traffic classes on the display. A fifth code is used to display the origin of the flow of information. The origin of the flow of information can be one of a plurality of nodes from a firewall, a server, a local area network, and wide area network, and others. The present invention has a variety of other codes to perform the methods described herein, and outside the present specification.
Numerous advantages are achieved by way of the present invention over pre-existing or conventional techniques. In a specific embodiment, the present invention provides a single point or a single region to manage telecommunication traffic including directory services and bandwidth management. Additionally, in some, if not all embodiments, the present invention can be implemented at a single point of access such as a computer terminal or firewall, for example. Furthermore, the present invention can be predominately software based and can be implemented into a pre-existing system by way of a relatively simple installation process. Moreover, the present invention provides more valued applications and users with a more reliable and faster service. Less critical applications and users are provided with a service level that is appropriate for them in some embodiments. In most embodiments, available bandwidth in a system is fairly shared between equally prioritized users (e.g., no user can monopolize or xe2x80x9chogxe2x80x9d the system). Still further, link efficiency improves due to overall congestion avoidance in most cases. Moreover, the present invention implements its traffic management technique using a simple and easy to use xe2x80x9crulexe2x80x9d based technique. Still further, the present invention has tools that are distributed at one or more locations on the network to monitor traffic on an enterprise level rather than a single point or node on the network. Accordingly, the present invention provides an xe2x80x9cend to endxe2x80x9d full cycle traffic management program. Depending upon the embodiment, one or more of these advantages can be present. These and other advantages are described throughout the present specification, and more particularly below.
Further understanding of the nature and advantages of the invention may be realized by reference to the remaining portions of the specification, drawings, and attached documents.